Prevalence of Obesity in Children Introduced in the Elementary School

In "One Student’s Advocacy For Change: Childhood Obesity" by Theresa Cast, the author wrote this article in order to bring realization to this disease and figure out solutions to reduce the number of children that have obesity. The issue of obesity is aggravating continuously, however it causes several sync diseases such as diabetes and high pressure of blood, according to cast, “ According to the El Paso Diabetes Association (2010) estimates show that more than 85,000 people in the El Paso area have diabetes and of those, as many as 25% may not even know they have this potentially deadly disease”. The statistics show that the number of children who have obesity in the United State of America is increasing, and that is considered

Observational studies were done on school children in kindergarten through third grade. The article explains that the children’s BMIs (body mass index) were measured at the beginning of the school year, end of the school year, and then again at the beginning of the following school year. It was seen that the BMI increase of the children increased twice as much during the three summer months than during the nine-month school frame. This infers that children gain more weight and are more incline to become overweight in their own home environment than their school environment. Sloviter makes a point that this increase in BMI at such a young age will lead to an increased risk for adult obesity. She concludes the article by briefly reminding the reader to remember that there are other factors that contribute to childhood obesity and the largest factor may not be the school lunch environment after all.

Childhood obesity has risen dramatically within the past few decades increasing ones awareness of the consequences that this disease entails. An average of 30% of children are suffering from obesity and overweight each year and yet, this condition remains to be under diagnosed and untreated (Moran, 1999). It is said that overweight children have a greater risk of developing medical problems and that these problems may ultimately lead to death for those suffering with the complications of this disease. Therefore, a research study will be observed to determine the statistical procedures used, the study findings and conclusion associated with the article, and the accuracy of these findings to

The rate of childhood obesity is on the rise. The negative effect of obesity on a child has been documented by health care agencies repeatedly. And yet, effective treatment plan to control the increase in obesity has yet to be discovered. Research examining the causes and intervention of childhood obesity has circled around understanding the reason behind a child’s weight gain as well as the key shareholders that have influence. The key shareholders such as the child, the family, and the school nurse, and school administrators have all been identified as performers in the fight against childhood obesity. Without the involvement of the key shareholders, it would be difficult to make head way or even initiate a program. Thus in this paper, the author will summarize findings on a qualitative research conducted on the perception of children about their body image; the understanding of parents in their role as guides to their child’s nutrition and physical activity; the role of the school personnel, and finally the school nurses perception of self-efficacy, perceived benefit and perceived barrier in addressing childhood obesity at the school setting.

The health promotions can essential be aim at children whom are obese; childhood obesity has become a major health emergency and the incidence of obesity has increased over the years. The purpose of conducting health promotion is to provide information on how to combat childhood obesity and educate the family on the risks of other health issues that are associated with obesity. The problem of obesity has typically originated when the child is in preschool and it continues to develop even when the child becomes an adolescent and throughout adulthood. It seems that children will grow up to become obese and this can inflict complications towards their health as the child continues to age. The term obesity is a chronic condition that is typically characterized by an excess body fat; body fat it is defined by using the body mass index (BMI) to determine if the child is overweight. The body mass index (BMI) is a calculation of the percentile this will indicate the child’s percentage of height and weight, and if the child is in the 95th percentile range it is considered that the child is overweight or obese (De Onis 2010). An overweight child can also be associated with other serious health problems of premature illness, and that can progress and even cause death. In order to accomplish and reduce the child’s body mass index, can be achieved through maintaining and controlling the child’s diet. In 2006, the World Health Organization

The prevalence of paediatric obesity has escalated to epidemic proportions, with 28.2% of children and adolescents aged 2 to 15 classified as either overweight or obese in 2015 (Health Survey of England, HSE, 2015). The factors that can contribute to childhood obesity includes genetics and environmental factors such as increasingly sedentary behaviours and caloric intake (Arluk, Branch, Swain, & Dowling, 2003; MacKenzie, 2000). Increased obesity in youth leads to an array of co-morbidities including Type 2 diabetes, hypercholesterolemia, and sleep apnea (Wang & Dietz, 2002). In addition, children are psycho-socially affected by this condition and may experience depression and lower self-esteem (Goodman & Whitaker, 2002; Janssen, Craig,

Schools settings have been known to have high influence on the eating patterns of children. With so many children attending school every day, childhood obesity has become a large issue across the country. Since this, low-income schools have become more aware of the low-calorie foods of fruits and vegetables having high levels of essential nutrients that can be used to reduce the risk of childhood obesity. This article focuses on school-based nutrition in low-income schools in Los Angeles County, the study was designed to increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables in these schools. The study worked with not only the students, but the parents, teachers, public health experts, and pediatricians. With a group of 399 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students, nutritional education was provided in the classrooms as presented by their teachers. The study questioned whether or not the student’s fruits and vegetables consumption increased, along with the availability of fruits and vegetables in the home, knowledge of food groups, and if attitudes on the consumption of fruits and vegetables changed.

The childhood obesity is one of the greatest health problems around the world. According to the book, ¨The high-income countries, the most common health problems are obesity, heart disease, respiratory disease, and diabetes¨ (OpenTax). The childhood obesity is a health problem that is characterized by the excess of corporal grass in the body of a child. The obesity in children can bring consequences of illness such as diabetes, high cholesterol, and others health problems. In addition, some responsible factors for the childhood obesity problems are the food, the genetic, and the factors of the environment of the child.

First, of the regions discussed in the article, reliably, the wealthier countries showed higher rates of obesity than poorer countries. Next, as the rate of obesity increased; the rate of underweight children decreased. For example, in Latin America and South Asia the rate of pre-school children who are underweight has decreased, yet this does not mean malnourishment is not an issue. Lastly, reliable data is scarce, this is due to factors like, the definitions amongst organizations that measure childhood obesity vary, and many countries do not nationally survey their population. Therefore, tracking childhood obesity rates globally is difficult. Though, it is difficult to track the exact numbers of obesity globally, there is no refuting the fact that obesity is a global health

Figure 1 shows the prevalence of overweight among U.S children and adolescents ages 6-19 years. Even though the percentage of overweight children and adolescents increased from the 1960s to 2000, the rate shows that it still remained similar for boys and girls (Childhood Obesity What the Research Tells Us, 2007). As you can see in figure 1, it is also showing that in 2000, 16% of all the boys ages 6-11 were considered overweight or obese while 14.5% of all the girls were considered overweight. Also, among adolescents 12-19, 15.5% of both boys and girls were considered overweight or obese (Childhood Obesity What the Research Tells Us, 2007).

The number of overweight and obese children is only increasing. It is important for children to eat adequate nutrients to ensure development, growth, and health (Brown et al., 2013). Children can become obese if they lack exercise, consume high fat and/or empty caloric foods, and watch their family eat or over eat unhealthy foods. Brown et al. (2013) implies adequate nutrition can improve a child’s academic performance in school, reduce tardiness and absences by decreasing the chances of a child becoming ill. Unfortunately, Timothy is one of the children who are obese due to poor nutrition (Brown et al., 2013). He is above average height for his age, which is an indicator to why he continues to gain weight. Overweight children are typically taller than most children. Being obese risks himself to Type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease (Brown et al., 2013). His body mass index (BMI) is 19.25〖kg/m〗^2 is plotted on the 95th percentile. This indicates that Timothy is obese for his age. Although his BMI is high, his BMI will change since Timothy will grow taller. His height is fifty inches, which means he is between 75th and 90th percentile, showing that Timmy is above average height. Timothy weighs sixty-eight pounds, which is on the 95th percentile and is overweight.

Obesity has been recognized as a major public health problem that has reached pandemic levels worldwide (). This disease has flourished despite differences among countries and regions ( ). The prevalence of obesity is increasing among all ages and racial groups (). In many countries, Australia, Brazil, the united Kingdom, China and the United States obesity rates have skyrocketed (). The obesity phenomenon in children is increasing at an alarming rate. According to the focus of the socio- economic status (SES) is to show the association between children who are overweight and children who are obese (), almost 32% of children aged 2-19 years were overweight. Data also indicated that almost 17% of these children were obese.

Childhood obesity has become an epidemic over the years nationally and internationally. The increasingly amount of children suffering from childhood obesity has grown over the years. One or more factors contribute to the development of childhood obesity. Such factors are genetics, behavioral (poor eating habits) and environmental (physical activity). Childhood obesity can cause physical, psychological, and social health problems (Karnik & Kaneka, 2012). On the other hand, the most recent strategy used is interventions to prevent and control childhood obesity (Karnik & Kaneka, 2012,). The purpose of the article is to discover the factors influencing childhood obesity as well as the use of various interventions and governmental actions addressing obesity while getting an understanding of the challenges for managing the epidemic.

A study published in the work of Olivares, et al (nd) and entitled "Nutritional Status, Food Consumption and Physical Activity Among Chilean School Children: A Descriptive Study" reports the objective of assessing the nutritional status, food consumption and physical activity (PA) habits of Chilean school children, as a baseline for developing an educational intervention. The study reported was a cross-sectional study and involved a total of 1701 children from 3rd to 7th grade in nine schools located in three geographical regions. The study reported having determined the body mass index, food consumption (quantified FFQ which were categorized into five groups, PA in terms of TV viewing and frequency of after school PA. The data is reported to have been analyzed by age, nutritional status and gender and a logistic regression analysis performed using obesity as an outcome. Obesity was found to be higher "among boys, younger

Children develop within a set framework and grow according to the levels of exercise and nutrition available to them as well as their particular genetic nature. In affluent countries such as Australia this growth can be affected by the lack of exercise and the consumption of too many kilojoules. Currently there are a large percentage of children who are verging on obesity or are obese, and this is an emerging cause for worry in today’s schools. Children today are not as active as previous generations, sometimes due to a lack of opportunity such as being driven to school instead of walking. Other reasons are less time outside and more time watching television and playing computer games. There is a much larger